Guilty Pleasure Reading

[GHScorpiosRule]

Do any of you read authors that you consider your dirty little secrets? Authors that are good at some parts, but downright horrible in others? Like the story is good, the plot is good, but dayum if the characters drive you nuts! piss you off, or make you want to reach in and just throttle said "hero" and/or "heroine"? The former for being borderline abusive, and the latter for just being a TSTL (Too Stupid To Live) idiot?

 

I have a confession to make. I do have two of them. And yes, they're both Romance authors. Well, one of them has since mainstreamed to suspense novels, and gotten rid of the romance/romantic aspect altogether.  They are Diana Palmer (also known as Susan Kyle) and Elizabeth Lowell.

 

I can't help it. When I'm feeling depressed and want to punish myself, I pick up their books (the romances)  to read. They are really, very good at drawing out the sexual tension, the emotional punches, but Good Goddamn are their "heroes" basically abusers. so what if they don't get physical? More often times than not, Palmer's heroines are always just coming out of teenager (20ish to 25), and virgins.  Said hero will taunt her for that, or, if she succumbs to his kisses and wants to have sex, then, by God, she's a jezebel and a slut!

 

Lowell's heroes aren't that hypocritical, but they are very judgmental about the character of the heroines based on her looks.  And these heroines just...take it. Well, except for one, in Lowell's To the Ends of the Earth (which I understand was originally a category romance called "Danvers Touch", but was expanded so she could flesh out more of the story), where the heroine wasn't TSTL, but I hated how the hero was suddenly forgiven, or forgiven way too quickly.

 

Okay, I've confessed. I know there have to be more out there like me. Right? Riiiiight?

[WendyCR72]

I'd say anything in the Harlequin line would easily qualify. Hee. Especially books pre-'80s. I admit having read a lot of Harlequin books.

 

Although the defunct Temptation line and the Blaze (born from said Temptation line) line are less "dated" and decent.

[kikismom]

Guilty pleasure: I always think Valley of The Dolls is hilarious.

But I have a thing for the non-fiction versions; I'll read any celeb bio that involves someone trashing their own life. I'm bored with the ones that are described as "inspirational", but I enjoy Papa John (Mamas and the Papas John Phillips drug-addled life), Tatum O'Neal's biography is comedy gold.

I especially like it when it's written by someone with no self-awareness at all---see Melissa Gilbert's bio.

[sunshinelover]

My guilty pleasure reading is definitely V.C. Andrews.  Well really just the Flowers in the Attic series.  The plots are ridiculous and the writing is pretty terrible but I can't help myself.  I'm on the last book now and I'm always a little embarrassed if someone asks what I'm reading.   But that is what my Kindle is for!

[AntiBeeSpray]

Dean Koontz Odd Thomas series. He's pretty good writing wise, but sometimes it's a little too religious O_o. 

[psychoticstate]

My guilty pleasure reading is definitely V.C. Andrews.  Well really just the Flowers in the Attic series.  The plots are ridiculous and the writing is pretty terrible but I can't help myself.  I'm on the last book now and I'm always a little embarrassed if someone asks what I'm reading.   But that is what my Kindle is for!

I absolutely love V. C. Andrews, cheese and all.  Well, the REAL V. C. Andrews, not most of the ghostwritten crap.

 

I've said before that I think V.C. was the late 70s/80s generations' Stephenie Meyer.  Not the best writing but damn if that woman couldn't spin a story.  And her books remind me of running to B. Dalton at the mall to buy the latest paperback.  Good times.

[Sharpie66]

I've been reading romances since 1977, when I was 11 years old. A teacher's aid in my junior high was reading a Rosemary Rogers book in the cafeteria which she set down to make her rounds of the room, and I picked it up and started reading. One of the original bodice-rippers, but looking back, it was pretty innocuous in the level of detail it contained. After that, my aunt lent me her Harlequin Presents and Barbara Cartlands, which I devoured and then started mocking because they were so badly written. By the time I was in high school, the Golden Age of Romance, aka the 1980s, had begun, and I started spending my babysitting money on Silhouette Desires and then Loveswepts, which were consistently good and introduced a lot of fantastic authors, such as Iris Johanson, Janet Evanovitch, and boosted Sandra Brown even higher in the Romance pantheon.

One of my favorite authors that I read early on was Janet Dailey, and when she was caught plagarizing from Nora Roberts back in the mid-'90s and lost all of her long-built cred in the industry, I was really saddened at her downfall.

I still read the trilogies that Nora Roberts puts out every six months, because even though the quality can vary a bit, I have never read a Nora Roberts book that I would give anything lower than a B minus. Linda Howard, OTOH, swings so wildly in quality that I never know if I'm going to be reading an A+ (Dream Man), or a D minus (any number of books by her).

The other authors that I still buy are Robin D. Owens (fantasy romances all set on the same planet that have as the big hook pets who can communicate mentally with their humans--silly, but she writes the pets' dialogue in a very entertaining way) and Loretta Chase (Regency/post-Regency historicals that are wonderfully crafted--her Lord of Scoundrels is a true classic in the genre). I have gotten back into buying Eileen Dreyer's historicals, which is a new area for her, since in the past she has been known for her extremely intense Silhouette Special Edition titles that tended to be very dark and using a lot of contemporary social issue hooks, such as Down's Syndrome babies, adult illiteracy, female Vietnam Vets and PTSD, childhood abuse, among others. Then, she branched out into Patricia Cornwell-esque forensic murder mysteries, which makes sense since Dreyer is a former ER nurse who went on to study forensics for her writing. My favorite of those is Nothing Personal, in which the heroine is a burning-out ER nurse, very much based on Dreyer herself, as she told me when I went to a booksigning of hers about 20 years ago.

I still have about 250 or so romances on my bookshelves at home, which is what I just can't get myself to purge, because these are the ones that I love to re-read. I came up with a personally recommended list for my Readers Advisory class I was taking this past spring for my MLS that my classmates really appreciated, even though the titles tend to be from the 1980s and 1990s; I quit working at Waldenbooks in 2002, and my romance purchases have been reduced to almost none after that.

Edited August 7, 2014 by Sharpie66

[GHScorpiosRule]

Oh @Sharpie66 , you are in GOOD company. Nora is my No. ONE author, and when that scandal of Janet Daily plagiarizing Nora, who was not only a colleague, but a friend, came out, in July of 1997 (yes, I remember the date, because I'd just arrived in the Bahamas for a much needed and first alone vacation, and it was the breaking news when I turned on the teevee once I crashed on the bed after the long flight), I lost a lot of respect for Daily. That said, there are two of her books I had, that I kept, because, well, they were that good. And it was pre-plagiarism. Both were Silhouette Special Editions.

I also read Sandra Brown until she totally stopped with the romance and all her heroes were interchangeable.  Then there are my Penny Jordans and Jessica Steeles and Charlotte Lambs from the Harlequin line...

If you loved Dream Man by Linda Howard, I KNOW you've read After The Night and Shades of Twilight, right?

And since I've been depressed lately, yep, I dove into the Palmers and HOLY MOLEY, she's bad. There are a few words she uses CONSTANTLY for sex/making love and it only makes me think SHE, and her heroines, view the sex/making love as rape. "invasive" is always used when they get to the final act, after foreplay. "Exquisite, blatantly, invasively" UGH, UGH, UGH.  And always, always, the heroine finds kissing and foreplay with any other man "disgusting, repulsive", and once she kisses or engages in light foreplay with the "hero", then she belongs to him and she better not be kissing anyone else. Oh, and did I mention said "hero" is impotent with everyone but the heroine who is 99 times out of a `100 TSTL?

I'm SO going to jump into a Ann Stuart, who is NOT a guilty pleasure reading at all, because she's so fucking awesome.

[Sharpie66]

If you loved Dream Man by Linda Howard, I KNOW you've read After The Night and Shades of Twilight, right?

 

 

Oh, hell, yeah! Dream Man is still my favorite of hers, though.

 

Anne Stuart is fantastic. I haven't read her in years, but I had several of her Silhouette Special Editions.

 

My favorite thing about Nora's writing is the quality of her male characters. You can tell that she knows how to write men, probably because of her four brothers, two sons, as well as her husband. I think she has the best male characters in the entire genre.

 

When I was putting my recommended list together for school, I realized I had a lot of pirate books, both historical and time-travel, which was a thing back in the 1990s, I guess!  From Tom and Sharon Curtis's The Windflower, to Betina Krahn's Passion's Ransom, to some of my favorite time travel titles, Nancy Block's Once Upon a Pirate, and Amy J. Fetzer's My Timeswept Heart and Timeswept Rogue (the sequel). Also, I love Mary Jo Putney's One Perfect Rose (a fantastic historical) and Maura Seger's Eye of the Storm, a WWII romance, which is rare for its setting--there are very few WWII romances out there that I'm aware of.

 

Elizabeth Lowell did write some fantastic straight SF titles that can be found in the romance section (if stocked at all) just because that is the genre she's known for. I really recommend her Timeshadow Rider, which is really out there in terms of concept (I had to reread it the day after I finished it just to understand the ending), but it is really amazing.

 

One of my favorite authors from the 1990s was Dara Joy, who had a really great fantasy romance series going until she developed legal issues with her publisher which are still continuing to this day. You can tell she was developing a fantastic universe for these titles (Knight of a Trillion Stars, Rejar, and Mine to Take) that she would have continued if she had the chance.

[Mystery]

I still like Nora Roberts but I feel like her writing is getting lazy (and goodness knows, she still cranks out work at an amazing rate). I just finished The Collector and on pages 4-5 she has "pretty bouquet," "pretty bowl of fresh fruit," and "pretty drops of cherry tomatoes." 

 

I still love her J.D. Robb stuff, though. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

@Sharpie66 , I'm going to take my response over to the favorite authors thread, since I don't consider Nora/JD, Linda or Anne to be guilty pleasures.

[AuntiePam]

sharpie66, you mention pirates.  Are you old enough to have read the Angelique series by the husband-wife team Sergeanne Golon?  Glorious, romantic bodice-rippers, and at least one of them has Angelique in love with a pirate.  I've thought of finding them again, but they probably don't hold up.

 

I don't know if it's a romance sub-genre or not (it should be) -- white women and "savage" Indians on the American frontier.  I've only read one -- Hermana Sam -- and a scene where the woman teaches her savage how to kiss -- well, as my Aunt Lola would say, I almost had a runaway. 

 

 

[ikmccall]

I don't read romance novels unless they involve time travel.  And then I'm awake until past midnight because I can't stop reading. 

[Athena]

I don't read romance novels unless they involve time travel.  And then I'm awake until past midnight because I can't stop reading. 

 

Interesting because I like the time travel concept myself. I've read all of Outlander. Do you have some recommendations from this category?

[AuntiePam]

Some good time travel (with and without romance):

 

Replay by Ken Grimwood  -- I've seen this one on more people's #1 time travel lists than any other. 

 

Time and Again and Time After Time by Jack Finney

 

A Shortcut in Time and a Family in Time by Charles Dickinson -- Shortcut is better than Family but both are interesting

 

Green Darkness by Anya Seton -- is it time travel or reincarnation?  I can't remember, but I remember loving it about 40 years ago.  Not sure how it holds up.

 

Elleander Morning by Jerry Yulsman -- an assassinate Hitler plot, interesting and different

 

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis -- the "now" part of the story isn't that great but the rest is wonderful

[Sharpie66]

I have never heard of the Golon books--I'll have to check them out!!

Oh, time-travel romance! I have a list:

1. First and foremost, Jude Deveraux's A Knight in Shining Armor. Modern woman goes back to Renaissance England. A true classic in the romance field, this is required reading since it is one of the first time travel romances to sell big.

2. Lynn Kurland: A Dance Through Time and its sequel The Very Thought of You. The first two of her Macleod series (yes, more Scottish Highlanders and time travel!), these are my personal favorites.

3. Donna Kauffman, The Legend MacKinnon. More Scots and time travel, this time also including two brothers of the time traveler who join him in modern North Carolina because one is a ghost and the other immortal, so the book contains three romances intertwined. It's a goofy premise, but it really worked for me.

4. Amy J. Fetzer, My Timeswept Heart and the sequel Timeswept Rogue. Time travel and pirates--yay!! She also wrote another time travel book not connected to these, Dangerous Waters, with a woman traveling back to the Old West. All three are really well-written, with excellent characters.

5. Nancy Block's Once Upon a Pirate. More time traveling pirates. A very funny book, I really liked the tone. I think this was Block's only published book and I just stumbled upon it, so it is probably way out of print.

These are all 1980s/90s, since that's when I read most of my romances, so some might be harder to find than others.

Edited August 29, 2014 by Sharpie66

[psychoticstate]

The first time travel book I ever read was Richard Matheson's Bid Time Return (what the film Somewhere in Time is based on.)  While the book is different than the movie, I still loved it.

 

So appreciate this thread and the recommendations!  Have a handful of books to add to my wishlist.

[Sun-Bun]

I'm absolutely obsessed with "chick lit."

There, I said it.

I'll eat up hours of my life digesting anything Jennifer Weiner writes especially---"Good in Bed" and "In Her Shoes" are my faves, of course. The woman just writes with such an easy wit and engaging, fiesty style that you can't help but get sucked into her modern everywoman tales.

Other fave "chick lit" authors include:

Jill Kargman

Lauren Weisberger

Candace Bushnell

Emma McLaughlin

It's just such fluffy literary candy, but I simply can't get enough of it, much to my own embarrassment. I also prefer my stories set in big cities with stylish, lovely women because I like my literary escapism extra glam and ridiculous.

Another favorite author of mine is Mary Kay Andrews, who might as well be the queen of Southern "chick lit" stories---"Hissy Fit" is her finest book, but she also has written some extra juicy ones too, all usually set in and around Georgia.

Please don't judge?? ;)

[Mystery]

My chick lit guilty pleasure is Jennifer Crusie, especially Faking It. I love all of her side characters. 

 

eta: she has explicit sex, not everyone's thing. 

Edited September 8, 2014 by Mystery

[Kris223]

Another chick-lit fan here. I'll second the recommendations of Mary Kay Andrews and Jennifer Crusie. Other favorites are Cathy Kelly and Sophie Kinsella (Undomestic Goddess and Remember Me? in particular). I also like the Pink Carnation series by Lauren Willig. And if you like mysteries, I recommend the wine county mysteries by Ellen Crosby.

[GreekGeek]

Guilty pleasure: I always think Valley of The Dolls is hilarious.

 

I really enjoyed Valley of the Dolls (45 years after it first came out!) apart from the tedious parts about Anne and Burke's rocky romance. It really captures all the genres of show business from the mid-40's to the mid-60's: Broadway, nightclubs, movies, television. About all it leaves out is rock and roll.

 

I'll occasionally pick up a tell-all celebrity bio.

 

I'm going to include the Harry Potter books. I recognize that the writing is not the best, but they're the rare children's/teens' books where the adults are as interesting as the kids.

[Joe]

When I say that I read science fiction, what it actually means is Star Wars, Star Trek, and Dr Who novels. They may not be high art, but they're entertaining.

[truthaboutluv]

My guilty pleasure reading with books, is that at almost 30, I still LOVE a good Young Adult/Teen novel and I kind of have no shame about it. One of my all time favorite authors is Sarah Dessen. I have read everything she's written and one of my favorite books I read this year is My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick. The story definitely had its issues but it had one of best teenage love stories/couples I'd read in a long time. 

[Shannon L.]

Hi everyone.  I have a confession to make:  I never stopped in this section before because it seems like most people I've met online or, in passing, who like to read, like to read fine literature and looked down on the popular fiction stuff.  I know not everyone is like that, but I've gotten enough snide comments that I'm always reluctant to say what I read.  Anyway, I love popular fiction and my favorites are the tried and true authors who write series with the same characters.  I was so glad to see a lot of them on this thread,  so I thought I'd drop in.  I, too, like Nora Roberts and Danielle Steele back when she was going strong.  For the real silly romances, I like Lori Foster, Linda Lael Miller and Robyn Carr.  I also really enjoy reading Robert Tannenbaum and Jonathon Kellerman (his Alex Delaware novels).  Tannenbaum is my favorite, though, because I love the characters he created even though his plots can get ridiculous.  Marlene and her friends and Lucy, their polyglot daughter.  Hell, he even made the family dog a character to root and care for!

Edited September 24, 2014 by Shannon L.

[heebiejeebie]

I read a lot of fantasy and going by the little smirks, eye rolls and dismissive lip twists I'm guessing that makes it a guilty pleasure since I have not gotten to the point of complete self-confidence to being unaware of such responses.  Otherwise at the risk of being a jerk myself I really don't feel guilty at anything I read.  Slight tangent, I get so annoyed at the reverse -- Pompous Pleasure Reading.  Why do famous people get so uptight about admitting what they read?  It always has to be an IMPORTANT book. Yeah it does not impress me.  the next time Fareed Zakaria ask Bill Clinton for a book blurb I wish he (or anyone else in that category) would somply list something he is reading for fun enjoyment.  I really have to question the actually ability to read as opposed to just being able to read, for those who can't use it as a vehicle for enjoyment and entertainment. 

[Shannon L.]

 

Slight tangent, I get so annoyed at the reverse -- Pompous Pleasure Reading.  Why do famous people get so uptight about admitting what they read?  It always has to be an IMPORTANT book.

Thank you for that. There was a time when I feel like I was surrounded by people who only read important books or great works of literature that I got really tentative when talking about the fact that I enjoyed reading because I was afraid of what would come next in the discussion.  Lately, I've been surrounded by friends who read the same things I do so it's not as bad.  But, message boards tend to lean towards the "good" stuff (even in movie threads), which is why I'm glad for this thread.

[psychoticstate]

I think all reading is good reading so I'm on board with the annoyance over Pompous Pleasure Reading.  Frankly I don't really care what a celebrity is reading unless it's something I would choose to read anyhow.

[Mountainair]

I'm absolutely obsessed with "chick lit."

There, I said it.

I'll eat up hours of my life digesting anything Jennifer Weiner writes especially---"Good in Bed" and "In Her Shoes" are my faves, of course. The woman just writes with such an easy wit and engaging, fiesty style that you can't help but get sucked into her modern everywoman tales.

Other fave "chick lit" authors include:

Jill Kargman

Lauren Weisberger

Candace Bushnell

Emma McLaughlin

It's just such fluffy literary candy, but I simply can't get enough of it, much to my own embarrassment. I also prefer my stories set in big cities with stylish, lovely women because I like my literary escapism extra glam and ridiculous.

Another favorite author of mine is Mary Kay Andrews, who might as well be the queen of Southern "chick lit" stories---"Hissy Fit" is her finest book, but she also has written some extra juicy ones too, all usually set in and around Georgia.

Please don't judge?? ;)

I had been on a Stephen King bender for a while when I decided a needed a change of pace. I browsed the library specifically for something that had a lot of other books by the same author. I happened to pick up the Fixer Upper by Mary Kay Andrews and really got hooked by the story pretty much instantly. After that I got Summer Rental and loved it too. On your suggestion I picked up Hissy Fit at the library today and am loving it! On chapter 6 but was pretty much sucked in by the first two pages.

iTunes had a free copy of James Pattersons "Private" and I read that in 2 days. Had heard of him but not read anything by him before. Consequently I found the second installment at the library today and got that as well.

I like to alternate. Once I finish my light and fluffy piece I switch to my more serious, true crime, fake crime, scary pieces.

[Shannon L.]

I got tired of Stephen King right around the time Tommy Knockers came out.  I didn't even finish that one.  He just got way too wordy for me.  I used to read Patterson a long time ago--not sure why I stopped.    I like switching between the light, fluffy stuff and the more complicated stuff, too. 

[heebiejeebie]

I think all reading is good reading so I'm on board with the annoyance over Pompous Pleasure Reading.  Frankly I don't really care what a celebrity is reading unless it's something I would choose to read anyhow.

 

I don't care what a celebrity is reading.  I am interested in what someone else is reading.  Because well, here I type so, yeah.  duh.  So even celebrities can mention a title I did not realize was out by an author I liked in previous works.  Even more I'm a huge forthcoming books dysfunctional fanatic.  I love knowing what an author is working on next let alone when it is coming out*.  A lot of famous people who are determined to be part of the intellectual culture (okay stop giggling....I mean it) do have insight into books that us normal folk don't.  Okay I'm not that normal since I get arcs through a sister-in-law.  But that is just part of my dysfunction.  Thing is people like Bill Clinton can and do get promotional copies and even galleys if he desires.  So I would love to know what he picked up out of his gratis pile and found worth while.  I'm just not into all those nation building, what-if economic we should be better people books that are drier than a Real Housewife of Orange County's skin.  And I'm pretty sure, staying with this example til it stops giving milk, Bill Clinton smart as he may be and as self-important (perhaps deservedly so, that each to their own call) as he seems to me; he probably reads some stuff for entertainment. 

 

*forthcoming book threads tend to be more genre-oriented i.e. for forums devoted to specific genres that makes it easier to track.  Does anyone though share enough interest to start one.  Or appreciate one started?

[JaneDigby]

True Crime of the non-serial killer type. Give me a story about a woman offing her husband and I'm there. 

[Mystery]

AuntiePam, I just want to say thanks for the recommendation on Replay for time travel books. I just finished it, and I really liked it. I can't believe I'd never heard of it before. 

Edited October 3, 2014 by Mystery

[ramble]

I got hooked on young adult books when I started pre-reading them for my kids & now I go on binges. I seem to not have too high of a bar for entry in this level either. I read the dystopian futures, the sci-fi, the lovey dovey stuff & even mermaid & fairy stories. I can gobble it down quickly & it's fun.

[Lovecat]

I joined a book club a few years back with the goal of upping my book game, quality-wise.  We tend towards the more serious contemporary (and sometimes classic) literature, with the occasional non-fiction work.  Left to my own devices, I'd read nothing but fluffy girl detective novels (Evanovich, Grafton), murder thrillers, and chick lit, with some true crime thrown in every now and then.  I'm currently simultaneously reading Americanah (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) for book club and Where'd You Go, Bernadette (Maria Semple) as my bedtime story.  I'm enjoying the former so far, but am DEVOURING the latter like a particularly yummy treat :)

 

You know what?  Reading is reading.  I read a lot of crap as a kid (VC Andrews, anyone?) and all it did was give me an appreciation of how the written word can transport you to another place, another time...with the added bonus of an expanded vocabulary and an appreciation for spelling and grammar ;)

[AuntiePam]

mystery, glad to hear you liked Replay. 

 

And thank heaven for the internet and forums where readers can learn about good books.  The best seller list isn't always the best place to look.  Neither is the library, or a bookstore.  They'll stock what's popular, and what's new.  Nothing wrong with that, but it leaves so many good books unread, unknown. 

[Sharpie66]

@ramble, there was a quite good mermaid romance trilogy from the early '90s that I can recommend. They were written by Jessica Bryan, and the three titles are Across a Wine Dark Sea, Dawn on a Jade Sea, and Beneath a Sapphire Sea, which was my personal favorite--in fact, if you just want to read one, go with the last one since it is not necessary to read the first two to follow the story.

[QTBlueMoon]

Lee Child's 'Jack Reacher' series, as well as John Sandford 'Prey' series.  They both always get me on the first page.

[HeySandyStrange]

Sep 20 2014. 3:43 pm

 

My guilty pleasure reading with books, is that at almost 30, I still LOVE a good Young Adult/Teen novel and I kind of have no shame about it. One of my all time favorite authors is Sarah Dessen. I have read everything she's written and one of my favorite books I read this year is My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick. The story definitely had its issues but it had one of best teenage love stories/couples I'd read in a long time

 

 

I JUST turned 30 and I am reading more YA books then when I was a teenager. Back then I was the fine literature reader and missed out on some good YA. I like Dessen a lot even though I think she recycles her plots and characters but she does have a way with description. I read The Moon and More over the summer and it is my favorite book by her, even though it wasn't a fan favorite.  She really brought to life her characters and small town setting.

[Petunia13]

I'm reading Peyton Place and Return to Peyton Place right now and it's fun soapy goodness.

I'm going to start the YA Survivors next. It's a set of books by Hunter about animals. She did the Warriors set too.

[wallflower75]

Judith McNaught.  God, are her heroes a bunch of jerks, but I just can't stop reading her stuff.  That's my guilty pleasure.

 

Having said that, I do want to add that I'm not an apologist for the fact that most of what I read gets looked down on by the Pompous Readers for being "frivolous."  As far as I'm concerned, people should read whatever they want.  The main thing is, they're reading.  You want to read something that won awards but put me to sleep?  Go right ahead, but don't look down your nose at me or I'll smack you with my copy of Jennifer Crusie's Crazy for You.  Oh, and if you're currently reading Crazy for You, come sit by me and we'll talk about how much fun the book is.

Edited October 20, 2014 by wallflower75

[Kris223]

Love her books. And after a long day of work, I want to read something fun. I know I read Crazy for You at some point, but I think I need to re-read it. I'd also recommend Manhunting - that's my personal favorite of hers.

[Irishmaple]

Welcome to Temptation has a permanent spot on my bookshelf, but I can take or leave the rest of her stuff.  I hated the follow-up to Temptation, the one with Davy.  I thought he was fascinating but the woman paired with him was duller than a slow news day.

[Mystery]

Oh, I loved Tilda and Faking It (also loved the whole Goodnight clan) and although I like Welcome to Temptation, I found Sophie kind of wearying and just loathed Amy. It's funny that Crusie can still write so many books that mostly please everyone! 

 

For some reason, the other day I thought of the "dead dog" joke from Getting Rid of Bradley. 

[wallflower75]

What I love so much about Crazy for You is that it's about how one small change can spiral out of control.  All Quinn wants is a dog--and the next thing you know, everything's gone haywire.  I also loved the secondary story of Quinn's best friend trying to recapture the magic in her marriage while her clueless husband can't see what's wrong.

 

I would consider Bet Me to be my second-favorite Crusie, followed by Welcome to Temptation.  I don't remember a lot about Faking It except that there was a lot of deception going on.  Maybe I should reread it sometime.

[Sharpie66]

I just finished reading the first ina new series by Robin D. Owens, one of the few romance writers I still buy. I love her romance/fantasy books, all of which start with the word "Heart." This new series is set in modern-day Denver, and center around an accountant who inherited her aunt's gift of seeing ghosts after the woman passed away. The first book, Ghost Seer, starts as she is trying to reject her new visions. The male lead is a recently retired sheriff's deputy who is still struggling to deal with his permanently damaged foot who doesn't like the woo-woo aspects of New Age stuff, including ghosts. The book is quite good, and I am definitely going to pick up the second book in the series, Ghost Layer.

[proserpina65]

In my teens and early twenties, I was all about historical romances, the more bodice-rippier the better.  Pirates, highwaymen, smugglers - I loved them all.  Heck, for a long time, everything I knew about the reign of Charles II came from trashy romance novels; most of it turned out to be surprisingly accurate.

 

Now, my guilty pleasure is chick-lit novels, but only British ones.  (Although I refer to them as 'palate cleansers', thank you very much.)  It's how I vicariously live in Britain with my great flat, interesting job and hunky Scottish boyfriend.  Or Irish, or Welsh, or English . . .

 

(For the longest time, fantasy novels were my guilty pleasure, but since the success of Game of Thrones, they're kind of respectable now.)

Edited October 29, 2014 by proserpina65

[proserpina65]

Other favorites are Cathy Kelly and Sophie Kinsella (Undomestic Goddess and Remember Me? in particular).

 

I like Sophie Kinsella but she's very uneven.  The two you mentioned are great, and so was the first Shopaholic book, but the other Shopaholic books got increasingly weaker and more ridiculous.

 

I was rather fond of Jane Green, but I've found her books don't always hold up to repeated reading.  Jemima J is particularly problematic in that respect; I loved it the first time I read it, but found the whole 'massive weight loss in short period of time for internet guy without any surgery to take up the stretched-out skin' aspect of it really annoying on my second time through the book.  The Go To Girl by Louise Bagshawe handled the weight loss aspect much better by not having the protagonist lose anywhere near as much weight.  (Love that book, btw.)

 

I do love Marian Keyes' books.  The escapist element is not usually quite as out there, and the characters' lives are often grittier than one would expect in chick-lit.  Although the last one I read by her did have the extremely far-fetched idea of the main character being a guardian angel - must confess to returning that one to the library mostly unread.

Edited October 29, 2014 by proserpina65

[wallflower75]

I was rather fond of Jane Green, but I've found her books don't always hold up to repeated reading.  Jemima J is particularly problematic in that respect; I loved it the first time I read it, but found the whole 'massive weight loss in short period of time for internet guy without any surgery to take up the stretched-out skin' aspect of it really annoying on my second time through the book. 

 

I do love Marian Keyes' books.  The escapist element is not usually quite as out there, and the characters' lives are often grittier than one would expect in chick-lit.  Although the last one I read by her did have the extremely far-fetched idea of the main character being a guardian angel - must confess to returning that one to the library mostly unread.

 

I'm with you on the Jane Green problem--I've enjoyed her early works, but they don't hold up under closer scrutiny.

 

As for Marian Keyes, Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married is my one of my favorite chick lit books of all time.  Her books, while still having a lot of the chick lit elements, are a bit grittier than the standard fare.  I'm with you on the one about the guardian angel, though.  That one was a bit ridiculous. 

[Arabesque]

I listen to a lot of audio books and have really gotten hooked on the #1 Ladies Detective Agency.  I love the way Lisette Lecat reads these books.  I also love the Honor Harrington books and The Vatta Wars (which I've read and listened to on audio). 

 

Another good audio I've heard recently is Luka and the Fire of Life.

 

Read the Game of Thrones and really liked it, but lost interest after that book.

Loved The Green Rider and the 2nd book in the series.  After that one the books in the series just kept getting longer and longer.  Do authors get paid by the word or something?

[Joe]

 

Do authors get paid by the word or something?

Not so much these days. But I was in my favourite SF bookshop one day, and heard a theory that several authors are in a competition to see who can write more than the other. I've been known to give up or not even start some books because of the size. Brevity is the soul of wit.